Kenta Maeda let out a rare burst of emotion Tuesday after striking out the side with 10 pitches in the eighth inning of the Los Angeles Dodgers' 3-2 walk-off win against the Colorado Rockies.

The Japanese right-hander took the mound with the game tied 2-2 and replaced Los Angeles starter Clayton Kershaw, who allowed a go-ahead homer to Charlie Blackmon in the fifth and issued five walks over seven innings.

(Kenta Maeda)
[Getty/Kyodo]

In the eighth, Maeda fanned Nolan Arenado on a slider, got Matt Holliday out on a foul-tipped fastball, and struck out Ian Desmond with a fastball low and outside.

Maeda led Desmond with a 94 miles-per-hour (151-kilometers-per-hour) fastball just outside for a ball and his only miss of the outing.

"I pitched with feeling for the first time in a while," Maeda said. "I thought it was an important game, and I especially felt like that inning was important.

"I thought that if I shut them down, it would definitely lead to a win."

Chris Taylor blasted the game-ending homer against Adam Ottavino (6-4) in the 10th, allowing the Dodgers to widen their National League West lead over the Rockies to 1-1/2 games. Dylan Floro (6-3) got the win for fanning two in the 10th.

Maeda, who entered the game at 8-9 with a 3.85 ERA, has been spotty since being relegated to the Dodgers' bullpen last month, but the club is confident he will return to the form he displayed as a reliever last postseason.

"We're betting on it," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, according to MLB.com. "That's why we made the move, considering when we made the move, the position we were in. We need those huge outs from Kenta and we've seen it."

At Oakland Coliseum, Shohei Ohtani went 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored in the Los Angeles Angels 9-7 series-opening win against the Oakland Athletics.

Ohtani singled and scored in a six-run rally in the sixth, capped by Kaleb Cowart's first career grand slam.